Worksheet
Subscription audit worksheet
Small monthly charges are easy to forget and add up over a year. List every recurring cost you can find, pick how often each is charged, and the worksheet shows the yearly cost of each line and the total. Tick the ones you want to cancel or review. Print it, or fill it in on screen. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere, so print or note your totals before you leave the page.
| What it is | Amount per charge ($) | How often | Per year | Cancel or review? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 | ||||
| $0.00 |
Worked example (shown when scripts are off): a $12 monthly charge is 12 x 12 = $144 a year. A $60 yearly charge is $60 a year, or $5 a month.
Before you cancel
Check the terms first. Some services charge a fee to leave, lock you in for a set period, or lose saved data or purchases when cancelled. Keep anything that protects you, such as insurance, and a licensed adviser can help with decisions about those. This worksheet is general information, not advice.
How the worksheet works
Each line is turned into a cost per year by multiplying the amount by the number of charges in a year. Weekly is x 52, every two weeks is x 26, monthly is x 12, quarterly is x 4, twice a year is x 2 and yearly is x 1. The total per year is the sum of all lines, and the monthly figure is that total divided by 12. Weekly is counted as exactly 52 payments, while a real year has a little over 52 weeks, so a weekly charge can be slightly higher in practice.
Where to look for recurring costs
Go through a few months of bank and card statements and look for the same charge appearing again and again. Check each card and account you use, not only the main one. Think about categories that often hide a recurring charge: video and music, apps and cloud storage, memberships and gyms, news and magazines, delivery and shopping memberships, software and games, phone and internet add-ons, and annual renewals that show up once a year. Yearly charges are the easiest to miss, so look back across twelve months if you can.
How to decide what to cut
For each line ask three plain questions. Did I use it in the last month? Would I sign up again today at this price? Is there a cheaper way to get the same thing, such as a lower tier or a pause option? Anything that fails all three is a candidate. Tick it, and cancel the one with the highest yearly cost first, since that gives the biggest saving for the least effort. Set a reminder to repeat the audit once or twice a year.
Where the money can go
Redirecting what you free up works better than letting it drift. Move the monthly amount into savings on the day you cancel, so it does not quietly get absorbed by other spending. The savings growth calculator shows what a regular deposit can build to over time, and this guide on keeping small savings wins covers how to stop them leaking away.
Limits
The worksheet only does arithmetic on the numbers you enter. It does not know your prices, trial offers that will convert to paid plans, or price changes. Costs shared with other people should be entered at your own share. Taxes, fees and currency conversion are not included.
Where this comes from
The method is simple annualizing: amount multiplied by payments per year. Reviewing recurring charges on your statements is common consumer-protection advice, but this page does not quote any single source for it; for your rights around recurring charges and cancellation, see what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission publish. The arithmetic was checked in a test script covering every frequency, blank and invalid entries, and the totals.